


Stakeouts

by navaan



Category: Batman (Comics), DCU (Comics), Nightwing (Comics)
Genre: Bat Family, Dick Grayson is Nightwing, Ficlet, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Gen Fic, Nightwing Vol. 2 (1996), Tim Drake is Robin, Winter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-16
Updated: 2017-01-16
Packaged: 2018-09-13 12:56:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9124747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/navaan/pseuds/navaan
Summary: Everyone is a little worried because Dick moved to Bludhaven





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tristen84](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tristen84/gifts).



Bludhaven isn’t exactly the jewel in America’s crown. In many ways it’s worse than Gotham, although _nothing_ surpasses Gotham when it comes to the inventiveness of its cruelest elements. But Gotham, as Bruce often says, is a lady. She has her dark spots and her cruel smiles and she can leave you behind cold and lost, ready to give up, but she is also a real beauty with softer sides, giving hope as much as she takes it away. Gotham is to many the city of crime, but it’s never unsaveable.

In comparison, Bludhaven… Bludhaven is just ugly. Crime here is perhaps much more mundane, but that makes it more shocking in all its artless cruelty. People die here every day - because of gang wars, organized crime, weapon’s deals gone wrong, smuggling, human trafficking and unpaid gambling debts, because of street muggings, bar brawls - or, yes, because of police brutality.

This city may have seen better days, but it was never a beautiful city and now it is a patchwork of crime from top to bottom with some innocent people trying to survive somewhere in between.

Tim doesn’t understand why anyone in their right mind would opt to stay here.

But Dick has.

Bruce sent him up to look into the case of some dead bodies that had washed up in Gotham - and now he’s making it his turf.

Even to someone who has worn the costume for a couple of years in Gotham, that sounds like a suicide mission.

But it’s Dick.

He usually knows what he’s doing even if he’s impulsive and at odds with Bruce. 

Just… Tim wants him to be save.

So, he does what he always does when he’s worried: He gets himself together and goes to investigate.

Snow is thick on Bludhaven’s uneven rooftops and Oracle’s voice leading him towards his goal is just a quiet call for caution in his ear. He nearly misses Dick, even against the snow, when he should stand out with his black and blue costume. But he’s one of the best, nearly undetectable as he crouches on the roof opposite the Dragon’s Palace Casino, where he’s been on the lookout for more than an hour if Barbara is correct.

Tim drops down, trying to make no sound, but his steps scrunch in the freshly fallen snow and Dick looks at him immediately. “Tim,” he says and his breath is visible in the icy cold of this Bludhaven winter night. His cheeks are red and even with the mask Tim can see a frown coming on. “What are you doing here?”

“I come in peace,” he jokes, understanding that Dick is naturally on the defensive. Bruce is worried about him. Alfred is worried, too. “And,” - he pulls a thermos from beneath his cape that Alfred had prepared for them - “I brought cocoa.”

Dick grins and shakes his head a bit. “This family is just unbelievable.”

Tim grins back. “Right?”

They share the hot cocoa, sitting in the snow, some new flakes falling down on them. Even with the crass neon lights and the ugly, skewed lines of the houses around them, the snow takes a bit of the edge off. Talk comes to them as easily as it would in Gotham.

He still can’t see why Dick would choose this place.

But he doesn’t have to understand. He just wants him to be okay. If that means supporting his choices, then he can bring pizza next time.


End file.
